


Heroes and Villains -- Six ficlets

by Severina



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: lands_of_magic, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 14:38:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4225683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six more ficlets for the "Badda Bing, Badda Bang" challenge at LJ's lands_of_magic community. My prompts this time were:  kaleidoscope wave, rain, girl with umbrella, cackle, deflect, and control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heroes and Villains -- Six ficlets

**Author's Note:**

> This time around there is Rumple/Belle and Regina/Robin. I also really like the thought of Regina and Rumple working together, and Storybrooke friendship in general, so there's some of that here as well. Also, SPOILERS for Season Four of the show.
> 
> Stories 01 to 03 take place in the same timeframe (ie. Stories 02 and 03 are sequels to Story 01)
> 
> * * *

01\. **Prompt: photo of an ocean wave with many colours**  
Storybrooke. Rumple/Belle, Rumple  & Regina  
350 words

Wave  
by Severina

Belle cocked her head, raised her hand to shade her eyes from the sun. "What… what is it?"

Rumplestiltskin stepped up beside her, followed her gaze out to the surf. The wave doubled in size as he watched, a kaleidoscope of colours blending with each gust of wind until his head ached.

"The sea witch," Regina bit out.

Rumplestiltskin stiffened, his cane digging into the soft earth as he spun to face her. "Regina," he muttered, "what have you done?"

"Nothing!" Regina protested. When he merely stared at her, she lifted a shoulder. "All right, I _may_ have sent one of her little mermaids on an errand. I needed my silver comb!"

"Your… comb?" Belle spluttered.

"It's imbued with magical… I don't have to explain anything to you!"

Rumplestiltskin squeezed the head of his cane, held the wild magic inside with an effort. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

"Maybe?" Regina answered. "With everything that's happened with Robin and my sister, Emma missing, dealing with Henry, I've just been— yes, a little crazy, all right? Happy now?"

"Oh yes, ecstatic," Rumplestiltskin sneered. "That wave could destroy the entire town, but hey, at least you have your _comb_."

"Stop it, both of you!" Belle shouted. "You can snap at each other later! We have to do something right _now_ to stop this."

Regina nodded, squared her shoulders. "Your wife is right," she said. "We say we want to be heroes? Then I guess it's time we lived up to the hype, don't you think?"

Rumplestiltskin looked away, back to the rioting surf. Since he awoke from the apprentice's spell to find the Dark One expelled from his body, his hold on his magic had been tenuous at best. To unleash it now, when the whole town was at stake, when one moment's loss of concentration could be devastating? The risks were too great. 

He started when Regina's hand found his, looked up sharply when she squeezed his fingers. "We can do this together," she said. "I'll help you."

He held his breath, then curled his fingers in hers and squeezed back.

**

02\. **Prompt: rain**  
Storybrooke. Rumple/Belle.  
360 words.

Rain  
by Severina

Rumplestiltskin leaned against the railing, watching the rain.

It fell in torrential sheets, so thick and concentrated that he could no longer see the old shed that sat at the back of the property. So hard that it bounced when it hit the grass. It showed no sign of abating, the dam having burst forth hours ago and the onslaught lessening not an iota since then. An impenetrable wall of water, bathing the earth is shades of grey and gloom.

He adored every minute of it.

They had won.

His head still hurt, a dull persistent throbbing at the back of his skull. The act of staying on his feet took more of his concentration than he would like to admit. But he wanted – needed – to see it with his own eyes, feel the power of the downpour. Because every drop meant that Ursula was scurrying back to her kingdom with her tail between her legs, her cursed wave crumbled under the strength of their counter-spell. That his power joined with Regina's had been enough to save the town. 

His power. His control was still precarious; hence the headache, the unsteady limbs. Regina had supported him, strengthened him, as he'd once steadied her long ago. But the power was there. And there was no Dark One inside him any longer to urge him to indulge his baser instincts. Now it was all up to him. The thought was both terrifying and exhilarating.

"Rumple?" Belle called out.

He shifted toward the open door just as she reached it, shaking her head.

"Rumple! You're ill! You're supposed to be in bed!"

"Bedrest won't help to restore me, sweetheart," he said, taking her hand and drawing her to his side. "Only time."

"Maybe not," she conceded, "but it makes me feel better."

"Perhaps if you'd join me?" he teased, brushing his lips against the fall of her hair.

Belle snorted. " I _know_ you're not well enough for that."

"True enough," he sighed. He tugged her a little closer, because support came from all quarters, and he was smart enough now to accept and welcome that. And together, they watched the rain fall.

**

03\. **Prompt: photo of girl with multicoloured umbrella**  
Storybrooke. Belle  & Ruby.  
450 words.

Umbrella  
by Severina

"Is this rain _ever_ going to stop?" Ruby asked, turning away from the window with a pout.

Belle pointed toward a young girl standing on the patio, her vibrantly striped umbrella the only bright spot in the unrelenting gloom. "At least someone doesn't seem to mind," she said.

Ruby followed her gaze. "Clearly insane," she sniffed.

"And at any rate, you shouldn’t be complaining," Belle continued. "If Regina and Rumple hadn't broken apart that wave, we'd all be buried under thirty feet of water right now."

"I know, I know. They saved the town, yay. I'm just sick of rain!" Ruby said, crossing back behind the counter and leaning forward on her elbows. "Not to mention how bad it is for business."

Belle took in the empty booths, gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Ruby shrugged. She looked up, eyes brightening. "Hey, couldn't Gold just… you know…" She wiggled her nose. "Shazam, no more rain."

Belle laughed. "Okay, first, he's not a witch. And second, no, unfortunately he can't. Something about how messing with the weather can have repercussions down the line."

"Damnit," Ruby muttered. 

"But," Belle said, "on the positive side—"

"There's a positive side?"

"I am here to invite you, and Granny of course, to a little party I'm throwing at the community centre this Saturday. I figured maybe everyone was going a little stir-crazy after a week of this. Might be nice to just get together and have some fun." She held out one of the cards she'd printed on Rumple's computer, smiling when her friend took it. "And I also need to order all the food for it, of course."

That got Ruby's attention more than the invitation. "You want the diner to cater?"

"Sandwiches, chili, soup, whatever you can make ahead. We'll just reheat it there," Belle hastened to inform her. "I don't want you to miss the party!"

"Belle." Ruby's hand was warm on hers when she leaned forward. "That… It's been tough, lately. No customers, no money. This will really help."

"Then I'm glad," Belle said. "I'll call you later with the details? Only I have a ton of invitations to give out."

Ruby waved her off, still beaming at the invite, and Belle raised her collar before opening her umbrella and stepping out into the downpour. The intensity of the rain seemed to have increased in just the few minutes that she'd been inside the diner, and the girl on the patio had vanished. The few people out and about scurried to their destinations, huddled in on themselves. But Belle's steps were light as she made her way to the pharmacy. 

The rain couldn't last forever. 

**

04\. **Prompt: cackle**  
Storybrooke. Regina/Robin.  
300 words.

Cackle  
by Severina

Regina does not dream. Her sleep has always been untroubled. So she is confused when she awakens in the middle of the night, to a racing pulse and a fast-beating heart; to Robin's fingers wrapped around her forearm, firm and tight.

"I have to go," she says, confused by the darkness of the room, the vague outlines of her bureau and her wardrobe where there should be grey concrete walls, the ticking of the clock in the hall where there should be the slow steady drip of a leaking pipe.

"Regina," Robin says. 

And she realizes it's not the first time he's said her name, not the fifth. That he is holding her down while she squirms against the bedclothes, so desperate to get away that in her disorientation she has not even considered using her magic.

"Regina," he says again, and finally she wakens fully; slumps back against the pillow and watches him rise on elbow and hover over her, brow furrowed. "You were dreaming," he says.

"Yes," she murmurs. It comes back to her in flashes, strobe-light glimpses: the cell below the hospital, Zelena crouched above a circle of candles and scratched something in the concrete; something – some _thing_ – rising from the open drainpipe, so vile and grotesque that she must shield her eyes; and also Zelena's head thrown back, her laughter echoing off the walls.

She shivers, burrows closer when Robin's arms come around her. Knows that dreams can be prophesies, foretastes into what will come, yet she still shies away from examining the creature she saw in her nightmare. She curls into Robin's arms instead, determines to wait until the sun is in the sky before she tackles that problem.

Closes her eyes, and knows her sister's evil laughter will follow her again into her dreams.

**

05\. **Prompt: deflect**  
Storybrooke. Rumple/Belle, Rumple  & Regina, Zelena  
430 words.

Deflect  
by Severina

"You must realize you don't have a chance," Zelena taunts. "I've always been stronger than you, sis."

"I'm not here alone," Regina calls out.

Zelena's eyes flick to the rustle of the bushes; her lip curls when he steps into the clearing. "Rumple? That's your backup?" Her laughter echoes off the trees, sends birds flying chaotically away from the source of madness. "Oh my. You must be more desperate than I thought."

"Your arrogance has always been your undoing, Zelena," Rumplestiltskin says. "It always will be."

"Oh, Rumple," she croons. "I'm going to enjoy destroying you."

He can feel her gathering her magic, the dark stirring of it in the air raising the hair on the back of his neck. She is more powerful than she has ever been, and even as he gathers his own strength to counter her he knows that it will not be enough. He has not yet had time to tame his magic, to bend it easily to his will. One on one with the witch, he will fall.

Rumplestiltskin draws the breath that will likely be his last, watches closely as Zelena draws back her hand…

"You're not going to destroy anyone today!" Belle shouts.

Rumplestiltskin starts, his eyes darting from Zelena to his wife, struggling her way through the brambles. His wife, who should be locked safely away in the community centre with the rest of the town. He meets her eyes briefly before turning his attention back to Zelena, who has now focused her malignant gaze on the woman he loves. Has, in fact, turned her attention _away_ from him.

The wave of his magic hits her like a locomotive, sending her sprawling back against a withered oak. She sprawls, dazed, while he twirls a hand to wrap the ropes around her, and has only just begun to struggle when Regina darts forward to re-fasten the magic-snuffing cuff around her wrist. The entire thing only takes fifteen seconds, but it is the longest fifteen seconds of Rumplestiltskin's life.

He releases the breath he didn't know he was holding, slumps back against a tree stump as Belle rushes toward him. 

"That was foolish," Rumplestiltskin says, catching her in his arms. "And brave."

"I couldn't let you go alone," she says. "I just couldn't."

"Promise me you'll never—" he starts; closes his mouth. This is Belle, his courageous and unpredictable little wife, and she will always do as she feels she must. "I love you," he says instead.

Her arms come around him, her lips soft against his neck. "I love you, too."

**

06\. **Prompt: control**  
Storybrooke. Rumple  & Regina.  
300 words.

Control  
by Severina

"Control," Regina says. "It's all about control."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you very much," Rumplestiltskin snaps. "You may remember that it was I who taught that to you!"

"And I was a much more agreeable student," Regina answers. "All you need to do is lob off that single branch. Simple. Now will you stop sniping at me and concentrate?"

"I _am_ concentrating," Rumplestiltskin lies.

Regina rolls her eyes. "Right."

Rumplestiltskin huffs out a breath, does his best to put Regina out of his mind and focus on the tree. He can feel his magic whirling around him, almost a physical force in the air. So _much_ power, tantalizing close, eager for him to reach out and wrestle it into submission. But strange magic, untainted by the claws of the Dark One. He doesn't know how to harness this kind of power, how to bend it to his will without using anger or hatred as a catalyst. 

He closes his eyes, reaches out with his senses for the pulse of his magic. Finds it, and drags it close, wraps it around his body like a warm winter cloak. Feels it seeps into his bones, attach itself to his marrow, burrow into his nerve endings. It beats in time with his heart, flows with the blood in his veins.

When he opens his eyes, there is only his power and the tree at the end of the clearing. He draws in a breath, and when he releases the breath he also flings out his power.

And the tree… explodes.

He slumps back against a stump, turns to Regina in time to see her wince. "Just a _little_ too much force."

"Yes," Rumplestiltskin sneers. "Thank you, dearie."

Regina shrugs. "Hey, at least we know where to go when we need firewood."


End file.
